Tip 2. Content Writing

A few years ago you used to hear the term “search engine friendly content”. You don’t hear it much anymore, however, it still applies. It is important to write content so that the search engines will know exactly what your article is about.

After all, the search engines are not people, in fact all that the search engines do is index content. However, if you write content using your keywords enough times (called keyword density), then the search engines know that the written content is about your keyword.

Okay, so now you are asking – How many times should I use my keyword in my content? The answer is not quite clear on that, in fact, the experts are all over the board on that subject.

It is quite clear though that if you use a keyword too many times in an article, the search engines will deem it spam and ignore it (or worse yet, ban the content).

When writing ‘search engine friendly content’…

A good rule of thumb is to use your keyword in the title, use it in the descriptive sentence (which should be the first sentence of your article), and use it 2 – 3 times per 100 words of your content. And, install that same keyword behind any graphics that you attach to the article.

Now you are thinking – It can’t be as simple as all that! Actually there are a couple more things you can do to create “search engine friendly content”.

1. Either bold or italic your keyword every time you use it in the content.
2. Through out your article, use your keyword in headings using heading text;

h1 – Search Engine Friendly Content

h2 – Content is king!

h3 – Using heading txt gets the search engines to take notice.

First and foremost, write content that is also ‘reader friendly’.

The ultimate goal is to write content that readers like so much they share it with their friends, link to it and even copy and paste it at their websites (as long as they are giving you credit for it).

To that end you need to write in short sentences and short paragraphs, with lots of white space. If readers perceive that your content is too hard to read due to the density of the sentences and paragraphs, they will leave your website – and never return.

Finally, it is also important to write articles that are long enough but not too long. Articles should be at least 250 words (for the search engines), and they should not be longer than 600 words (for the humans).

So get writing!

Just write. During the first draft, don’t worry about “search engine friendly content” – just write! After you get all of your thoughts down on paper, then go back in and add (or delete) keywords, edit in the bolds and italics, make sure that the paragraphs are not too long… and add the heading text.